Chicago : cast a new Velma

The Chicago thread about becoming the 2nd longest running show made me think: if you could realistically cast a new Velma, using an exciting broadway or off-broadway talent (stunt casting not desired or required) who has never played Velma. Who would you cast?

I would love Samantha Barks to come to Broadway in something. She played Velma in the Hollywood Bowl production last summer, and if she wanted to come to Broadway in it, I'd be the first to buy tickets.

Velma: Rachelle Rak, Rachel York, Charlotte D'Amboise (my favorite Roxie by far!). Roxie: I kind of always wanted to see Kerry Butler. It does sound like an odd choice, but I can really picture her in the role!

No, the Weisslers aren't listening. I must admit that Rachelle Rak would be awesome. But, she would be too wild for the producers' taste. Charlotte D'Amboise would never be Velma. She has been quoted as saying she wouldn't be interested. In any case, the current Velma will be at the Ambassador until January 2015 (groan).

I would to see Valarie Pettiford brought back to the Chicago family. She did do it in Vegas opposite Chita.

If not Valarie then here is my list

1. Brenda Braxton YES BRENDA! 2. Dionne Figgins ( currently at Motown but FIERCE) 3.Stephanie Pope 4.Samantha Barks (although it wouild be a different show she is YOUNG) 5.Tisha Campbell-Martin ( this girl BLOWS.....She was in Little Shop and School Daze)

The problem I have is that the current cast is getting a little stale for me... I wanna see some real WOMEN and MEN on the stage. Not BOYTS that are just all muscle and girls being sass. What about the Dana Moores, The Mary Ann Lamb The Denis Fayes....REAL WOMEN of a certain age. That is what Chicago is about after all.... 4.

I would to see Valarie Pettiford brought back to the Chicago family. She did do it in Vegas opposite Chita.

If not Valarie then here is my list

1. Brenda Braxton YES BRENDA! 2. Dionne Figgins ( currently at Motown but FIERCE) 3.Stephanie Pope 4.Samantha Barks (although it wouild be a different show she is YOUNG) 5.Tisha Campbell-Martin ( this girl BLOWS.....She was in Little Shop and School Daze)

The problem I have is that the current cast is getting a little stale for me... I wanna see some real WOMEN and MEN on the stage. Not BOYTS that are just all muscle and girls being sass. What about the Dana Moores, The Mary Ann Lamb The Denis Fayes....REAL WOMEN of a certain age. That is what Chicago is about after all.... 4.

Bebe was in the early/mid 30's when she first played Velma, so a younger Velma doesn't bug me. Picks that would get me back for a 4th trip; Samantha Barks Patina Miller (please if even for a short sumer stint!) Lena Hall (she was in CATS, I'm sure she can handle the dancing) Lisa O'Hare Molly Tynes ETA The amazing Jessica Keenan Wynn

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"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

I was hoping this thread was gonna be a petition to replace Amra. I'd sign.

Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.

I'm not sure what Vanessa Williams' dancing is like recently (not sure how much she danced in AFTER MIDNIGHT), but she'd be an ideal Velma in my book. My top choice for Velma is Karen Olivo though. Whatever happened to Megan Sikora? She was fantastic in CURTAINS and APPLAUSE at Encores!, and would make a great Velma. Rachelle Rak would be perfection, love her in the FOSSE video. I'd love for the Weisslers to get a brand new cast to celebrate the upcoming milestone, just for a one night only sort of thing or a weekend Encores! style: Vanessa Williams or Karen Olivo for Velma, Jane Krakowski for Roxie, Victor Garber for Billy, Danny Burstein for Amos, and Tonya Pinkins or Mary Testa as Momma Morton. A boy can dream.

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

Chicago survives mostly on tourists and the low costs (including the cast).

Marroquin and Wright do it at a much lower rate than most would and know the show so well that at this point that it makes no sense to start again with anyone new. All those names that appear on this thread would do a few weeks but then it's back to the same.

It is too bad for Broadway fans, but at least the show did see a good mix of performers back in the day. The show survives more than it lives, and the material is good enough to keep it somehow enjoyable if not the amazing production it was 20 years ago.

Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE